Storm: Wreaths of Smoke
by Cyri's Alter Ego
Summary: Smokepaw and Dustpaw were always going to be mates. But when an unexpected battle explodes in the heart of ThunderClan, one cat will be left devastated... Sequel to Storm: Falling Leaf. T for safety.
1. Allegiences

**Last editing! Well… Let's take a looksee, shall we?**

ThunderClan

LEADER: Spottedstar - tortoiseshell she-cat with blue eyes

DEPUTY: Blueheart - blue-grey tom with blue eyes  
Apprentice: Mintpaw

MEDICINE CAT: Flowerwing – grey tabby she-cat with white paws and a white tail-tip

WARRIORS:

Thistlefur - smoky grey tom with yellow eyes  
Apprentice: Dustpaw

Mousetail – pale grey tabby she-cat with blue eyes  
Apprentice: Goldenpaw

Hazelstripe – brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes  
Apprentice: Smokepaw

Patchfoot – tortoiseshell tom  
Apprentice: Toadpaw

Snowfall – pure white she-cat with dark blue eyes

Flamefur - ginger tabby tom with green eyes

Larchwhisker – small brown tom with yellow eyes

Breezemist – very pale grey she-cat with yellow eyes

Scorchpelt – ginger tom with green eyes

Cloudflight – white she-cat with yellow eyes

Ripplefur – mottled grey she-cat

APPRENTICES:

Smokepaw – dark grey she-cat with dark blue eyes, mentored by Hazelstripe

Dustpaw – pale grey tom with pale blue eyes, mentored by Thistlefur

Goldenpaw – golden tabby she-cat, mentored by Mousetail

Mintpaw – black tom with leaf green eyes, mentored by Blueheart

Toadpaw – dark brown tom with amber eyes, mentored by Patchfoot

QUEENS:

Darkfur – dark grey queen with amber eyes, mother of Russetkit (pale ginger she-cat) and Crowkit (dark-furred tom)

Ivyleaf – black she-cat with dark green eyes, mother of Cedarkit (pale grey tom), Shrewkit (brown tom), and Gorsekit (brown she-cat)

ELDERS:

Whiteflower – white she-cat with green eyes

ShadowClan

LEADER: Redstar – mottled, light reddish-brown she-cat

DEPUTY: Willowflame - tawny she-cat with amber eyes  
Apprentice: Applepaw

MEDICINE CAT: Silverfoot - silver she-cat with green eyes, front left paw is grey

WARRIORS:

Fernpelt – black she-cat with amber eyes  
Apprentice: Rowanpaw

Rainleaf – ginger and white tom  
Apprentice: Lizardpaw

Brightnose – tortoiseshell and white she-cat with a pink nose  
Apprentice: Mosspaw

Swiftfire – grey tabby tom with amber eyes  
Apprentice: Swallowpaw

Silvershine – silvery grey she-cat

Wildclaw – mottled brown tom with yellow eyes

Spottedflower – dappled she-cat with blue eyes

Redstorm – reddish brown tom with amber eyes

Talonclaw – brown tom with yellow eyes

APPRENTICES:

Mosspaw – tortoiseshell she-cat with blue eyes, mentored by Brightnose

Applepaw – striped grey tabby tom, mentored by Willowflame

Rowanpaw – brown tom, mentored by Fernpelt

Swallowpaw – dark grey she-cat with yellow eyes, mentored by Swiftfire

Lizardpaw – short haired black she-cat with yellow eyes, mentored by Rainleaf

QUEENS:

Minnowwhisker – grey and white she-cat, mother of Morningkit (reddish-brown she-cat)

Beechstripe – dark brown tabby she-cat, mother of Volekit (dark brown tabby tom) and Redkit (russet coloured she-cat)

ELDERS:

Heatherfoot – black she-cat with amber eyes

Sandflower – ginger tabby she-cat with green eyes

WindClan

LEADER: Wildstar – enthusiastic brown tom

DEPUTY: Rainstorm – black she-cat with yellow eyes

MEDICINE CAT: Featherflight – dark orange long furred she-cat with pale green eyes  
Apprentice: Wildstorm

WARRIORS:

Branchfoot – dark brown tom with amber eyes

Bluestone – blueish grey tom, slightly snobbish

Greenfrost – tortoiseshell tom with green eyes  
Apprentice: Brightpaw

Nightfall – black tom with amber eyes

Runningwhisker – smoky grey tom with yellow eyes  
Apprentice: Greypaw

Hawkclaw – tawny furred tom with yellow eyes  
Apprentice: Leopardpaw

Cindersky – light orange tabby she-cat, like glowing cinders  
Apprentice: Scorchpaw

Tawnyfur – tawny coloured she-cat with amber eyes

Specklefeather - dappled tortoiseshell she-cat with blue eyes  
Apprentice: Sorrelpaw

Oakleaf – brown tom with amber eyes

Frostfire – creamy brown tom with amber eyes

Tallfoot - grey tom with green eyes

Poppyflower - grey she-cat with one white paw

Moonfeather - tawny-furred she-cat with green eyes

Swiftstream - black-and-white she-cat with green eyes

APPRENTICES:

Wildstorm – brown tom with amber eyes, mentored by Featherflight

Brightpaw – tortoiseshell she-cat with yellow eyes, mentored by Greenfrost

Greypaw – grey tabby tom with blue eyes, mentored by Runningwhisker

Leopardpaw – mottled ginger she-cat, mentored by Hawkclaw

Scorchpaw – light ginger tom with dark green eyes, mentored by Cindersky

Sorrelpaw – brown she-cat, mentored by Specklefeather

QUEENS:

Mosstail – grey tabby she-cat, mother of Lightningkit (golden tabby tom), Poppykit (dark ginger she-cat), Fernkit (grey tabby she-cat), and Icekit (black and white she-cat)

Mudnose - little brown she-cat with amber eyes, mother of Squirrelkit (pale ginger tom)

Heronflight – grey tabby she-cat with amber eyes, mother of Tawnykit (golden-furred she-cat) and Littlekit (small grey tom)

ELDERS:

Dawnlight – tortoiseshell she-cat with deep blue eyes

Mayflower – once-pretty brown she-cat with yellow eyes

Roseheart – grey tabby tom with distinctive green eyes

Redpelt – clever, dark she-act with amber eyes

RiverClan

LEADER: Ravenstar – black tom with amber eyes

DEPUTY: Silverblaze - silver tabby she-cat with amber eyes

MEDICINE CAT: Dawnwind – smoky grey she-cat with blue eyes, formerly of the horseplace

WARRIORS:

Foxbramble – creamy brown tom with amber eyes

Wildpoppy – tortoiseshell tom with yellow eyes

Tigerpelt - black tom with amber eyes

Clawfoot – brown tom with amber eyes  
Apprentice: Nettlepaw

Darkstorm - black she-cat with blue eyes  
Apprentice: Stormpaw

Rushleaf - grey she-cat with black stripes  
Apprentice: Reedpaw

Stonewhisker - grey tom with yellow eyes  
Apprentice: Mothpaw

Patchflower - tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes

Coppershine – dark ginger she-cat

Ashcloud - black tom with yellow eyes

Nightsky - black tom flecked with white

APPRENTICES:

Stormpaw – long-furred stormy grey tom with amber eyes, mentored by Darkstorm

Mothpaw – tawny she-cat with amber eyes, mentored by Stonewhisker

Nettlepaw – pale ginger she-cat with green eyes, mentored by Clawfoot

Reedpaw – brown tabby tom, mentored by Rushleaf

QUEENS:

Hawkfire – pale ginger she-cat, heavily pregnant

Sandshade - dark ginger she-cat, mother of Blackkit (pure black she-cat with amber eyes), Leafkit (ginger tom with green eyes), and Emberkit (palest ginger tom with dark green eyes)

ELDERS:

Dawnflower – grey she-cat with blue eyes

Redsky – ginger she-cat with green eyes

Mossears – grey she-cat with blue eyes

STARCLAN

Mothstar – tawny she-cat, former leader of ThunderClan

Tawnystar – white tom with ginger splotches, former leader of ThunderClan

Hawkeyes – grey tabby tom with piercing yellow eyes, formerly ThunderClan medicine cat

Longfoot – brown tabby she-cat, formerly ThunderClan queen, mother of Onekit, Brownkit, and Molekit

Onekit – brown tabby tom, formerly a ThunderClan kit

Brownkit – dark brown tom, formerly a ThunderClan kit

Molekit – pale brown she cat with darker ear-tips, formerly a ThunderClan kit

Cedarpaw – pale cream-coloured she-cat with a black tail-tip and black ear tips, blue eyes

CATS OUTSIDE CLANS

Flash – smoky grey tom that lives close to Skystorm and Jay, formerly of the horseplace, brother to Dawnwind

Skystorm – black she-cat with yellow eyes, formerly of RiverClan

Jay – black tom with a white dash on his chest, a white tail-tip and yellow eyes

Magpie – Skystorm and Jay's son, black tom with a white dash on his chest, a white tail-tip and yellow eyes

Raven – Skystorm and Jay's daughter, black she-cat with blue eyes


	2. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER: If I'm really good, can I have Warriors for Christmas?  
=crickets chirp=  
I'll take that as a 'no'. I don't own Warriors.**

Prologue

"Tawnystar, please-"

"No! Mothstar, you can't give me excuses this time. There is no reason for this and you know it!"

"StarClan does not hold control over everything!" the tawny she-cat spat back. "I cannot change what I prophesise, Tawnystar!"

The ginger-patched tom hissed softly under his breath. "But what does it mean?" he wondered. "_The chaos will arrive in ThunderClan, that not even serenity can prevent..._"

"I don't know." The former ThunderClan leader shook her head. "But it refers to ThunderClan alone. None of the other Clans will have any problems with this 'chaos'."

Tawnystar sighed. "And now, the kit..."

Mothstar's eyes flashed. "Do not speak of that! She will be devastated as it is. And so will he."

"Kits and apprentices... they're always the saddest..."

"Of course they are!" Mothstar snapped. "They have their whole life stretching out in front of them. To be snatched away in one heartbeat... That's hard."

"Of course." Tawnystar dipped his head. He glanced behind him. "And Cedarpaw... she's been finding it particularly hard."

Mothstar flicked her ear impatiently. "She's only been in StarClan for a half moon. Can you honestly say that you didn't find it difficult when you first arrived?"

"You're right. This might be some help."

"It might be." Mothstar sighed heavily, suddenly looking a thousand times more weary.

"We have to be ready for... Well, I'll see you later," Tawnystar mewed, breaking off in mid-sentence. Mothstar watched his starry form pad away, and then turned her gaze to her beloved ThunderClan camp. Her eyes sought out one in particular - a pale tabby tom.

She watched him emerge from the apprentice's den, and touch noses gently with another cat - a dark grey she-cat. The motion was so tender, so gentle... Mothstar felt her heart would break.

A warning yowl sounded from another cat inside the camp, and the gesture ended. Mothstar turned away, unable to watch any more.

_They love each other - it was a match made in StarClan. How could it all be taken away?_


	3. I'd Give Anything for You to be Happy

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Warriors - yet. =evil laugh=**

One

Dustpaw turned to the cat who had yowled - Snowfall, a pure white she-cat.

"ShadowClan!" she hissed. "Fox-hearted crowfood-eaters!"

Spottedstar was among them at once, the tortoiseshell she-cat radiating calm.

"Quick, protect the kits and elders," she ordered. At once, Flamefur, the father of Darkfur's two young kits, rushed to the nursery, as dark shapes emerged from the brambles protecting the ThunderClan camp.

Dustpaw turned to brush pelts with Smokepaw, a dark grey she cat.

"Stay safe." Her blue eyes glittered with worry.

"We'll face this together," Dustpaw promised her, his heart melting as it always did when he gazed into the depths of her eyes. Smokepaw nodded bravely and pounced on a skinny brown tom. Dustpaw leaped to join her, unsheathing his claws into a frenzy of blood and tearing fur.

Smokepaw and Dustpaw were not a heartbeat out of time. They ducked and slashed our claws in synchronisation like they had been born to fight together. That seemed fitting, Dustpaw reflected, as the brown ShadowClan tom dashed into the bushes, squealing like a kit.

A claw raked down Dustpaw's flank and he fell into defensive, as he and Smokepaw battled two ShadowClan apprentices - a striped grey tabby and a short-haired black she-cat.

"Get out of our camp!" Smokepaw hissed at the she-cat, swiping a paw over her muzzle.

"You crazed lump of fur!" the she-cat sneered back. "How dare you set your border markers further into ShadowClan territory?"

"We never did!" retorted Dustpaw, outraged.

"Do you need him to fight your battles for you, you helpless little apprentice?" The striped grey tabby's mew was taunting, and his question was aimed at Smokepaw.

"Of course I don't!" snarled Smokepaw, giving the ShadowClan apprentice what looked like a painful nip to the ear, before viciously clawing his flank so that he lost several clumps of fur. "Not so much 'helpless little apprentice' now, is it?"

Dustpaw was so transfixed gazing at Smokepaw's fantastic fighting skills that he forgot to watch the other ShadowClan apprentice. The black she-cat bowled into him so he went tumbling away - and that was when he realized that he was a mouselength away from the edge of the sheer rock face.

"No - wait!" he yowled, as the black she-cat made as though to attack him again, not realizing how close to the edge Dustpaw was.

"What? _Scared_?" mocked the apprentice. Dustpaw tried to scramble up but the ShadowClan cat was already upon him.

His paws scrabbled desperately at a vine clinging to the sheer crag, but it was too slippery and he was falling...

"Dustpaw!"

A frantic mew sounded from above him, and Dustpaw tried to clutch hold of something, anything, if only to hear that pure-as-honey voice, so beautiful even when it was so afraid...

He was aware of a heartbeat of excessive pain before he was... gone.

***

"Are you okay? Well, no. Of course you're not okay. You just... oh, but you don't know yet... This is great, just great. I'm supposed to be a wise ancestor and already I'm _babbling_ at you!"

"Huh?" Dustpaw looked up to see a creamy shape swim into view in front of him. The cat was pale, cream coloured, with a black tail-tip and ear tips, with blue eyes. She smelt of stars and the night, and her fur was sprinkled with starshine.

In a heartbeat, Dustpaw recognized her. "_Cedarpaw_?"

The young ThunderClan apprentice had been killed barely a moon before, by a monster while chasing a pheasant. She nodded.

"Yes, it's me! Hi!" she mewed enthusiastically, before seeming to catch herself. She rearranged her features and started again. "Oh, um, I mean... Yes, hello, young Dustpaw. I am sorry that you have joined us in the ranks of the... Oh, forget it!" She sounded exasperated.

"What's going on?" Dustpaw asked slowly. "I remember... Oh, great StarClan, Smokepaw! Cedarpaw, what happened?" he demanded.

"Well..." Now Cedarpaw looked distinctly uncomfortable. "I've made a _complete _muck-up of this already, so I guess I'll just tell you straight out." She looked Dustpaw straight in the eye, blue eyes meeting blue. "You're dead."

"I'm..." Dustpaw looked down at his paws, swaying where he stood with the shock of what he had just been told. He could see straight through them. "_Dead_? So Smokepaw..."

"Will be devastated, of course." Cedarpaw's voice was low and comforting. "I'm sorry. It was... really hard for me, too, when I first joined StarClan... I'm just so, so sorry."

"But she's so beautiful..." Dustpaw murmured, half to himself. After another heartbeat's silence, Cedarpaw spoke up, her voice slightly brighter.

"So, let's go, shall we?"

"Go?" Dustpaw looked up again, his pale blue eyes still pained. Cedarpaw slapped her mouth with her tail.

"Sorry!" she squeaked through a mouthful of tail fur. "I'm intruding on your grief. Just... you know, tell me when I'm getting too... annoying, and I'll shut up. Some cats don't always appreciate that I'm so... cheerful."

"No, no, it's okay." Moping around here couldn't be healthy anyway, Dustpaw thought logically. And he'd still see Smokepaw... He'd watch over her from the stars until it was her turn to join him. The thought gave him so much anguish that he tried to dismiss it, and focused instead on what his former Clanmate was saying. "Go where?"

"To the StarClan camp." Cedarpaw turned away and flicked her tail, indicating for Dustpaw to follow her. Dustpaw was doubtful, but to his surprise he found his starry paws leaving the ground.

"I'm... _flying_," he mewed in shock. He wondered if Smokepaw would have liked to fly. _She was always one for trying new things..._

Cedarpaw purred. "It feels a bit strange at first, but you get used to it... Well, actually, no. It _still_ feels odd to me!"

Dustpaw purred, too. He glanced back at his body. Smokepaw had found her way down to it, and had buried her nose in his unmoving fur, her dark blue eyes gleaming with pain. The purr was cut short immediately.

_Smokepaw, can you hear me? If you can... I'm sorry. I... I love you, Smokepaw. But you'll find another mate. You'll... you'll move on._

Dustpaw's throat constricted as he thought of Smokepaw with another tom, but he forced his agony back.

_I'd give anything for you to be happy._


	4. No One Understands Me

**DISCLAIMER: I had a dream last night that I was a cat. Does that count?  
I didn't think so...**

Two

"Smokepaw, come on, now..."

Smokepaw's next words caught in her throat as some cat tried to remove the pale grey cat from beneath her nose. "No..."

"Come on, Smokepaw... I'm sorry, but..."

"No..." repeated Smokepaw, her mew tight and choked.

"We need to take Dustpaw's body away... For the mourning ceremony."

"You can't. I won't let you. He's _not_ dead."

"He is. I'm sorry."

For the first time, Smokepaw looked up. The cat speaking was Larchwhisker, and Breezemist, Hazelstripe and Thistlefur were standing not far off. Breezemist, Dustpaw's mother, had a wild grief in her eyes.

She looked down at the cat beside her paws.

"Dustpaw," she whispered. His eyes were still wide open, a look of shock on his face. Smokepaw didn't like it like that - it was too obvious that he was...

She lifted a paw and gently slid Dustpaw's eyelids over his eyes. "Now he... he could be sleeping."

Thistlefur nodded, and pressed himself comfortingly against Smokepaw's side. Smokepaw nuzzled into his flank, grateful for her father's warmth.

She watched as Larchwhisker and Hazelstripe gently lifted Dustpaw's body off the ground. She shivered, but not from the cold.

A wail grew in her throat until she couldn't suppress it any longer. Her agonised cry split the night air, quiet after the battle with ShadowClan. She fell silent, but Breezemist took up the wail almost at once.

"I'm sorry," Thistlefur whispered in her ear. Smokepaw hardly heard him - she was too wrapped up in a different world, wreathed in smoky shadows.

Just like her name.

Seeing Dustpaw's body... it was suddenly too much to bear. Smokepaw wrenched herself from her father's side and shot away into the forest.

She shut her eyes and ran blindly through the trees, ducking and weaving. She knew the territory like the back of her paw, but what was the point? What was the point in defending the borders, what was the point in catching fresh-kill?

Smokepaw now knew exactly how a piece of prey felt - trapped. And what about the mice that survived? What if two mice fell in love, and then one of them was killed by one of Smokepaw's own Clanmates? Would the other mouse willingly throw themselves into the jaws of another cat, consumed by grief as they were?

Smokepaw opened her eyes. She was standing in front of the Sky Oak.

_What is the point in going on living?_

She put one paw onto a low branch of the tree. It seemed secure, so she bunched her muscles and leaped onto it. Then another... And another...

_At least in StarClan, I know that Dustpaw will be waiting for me!_

There was a very thick, gnarled branch near the top of the Sky Oak. In one enormous bound, Smokepaw crossed over to it.

_I can see for ever!_ Smokepaw thought, with a burst of sheer exhilaration, before she glanced over in the direction of the camp. Black, brown, ginger, grey, and tortoiseshell smudges were dotted all over it, and in the middle, there was an unmoving, pale grey blurred shape. Even though Smokepaw couldn't distinguish its features from here, every fibre in her body told her that it was Dustpaw.

Dark thoughts clouded her mind, blotting out any remaining feeling of elation that had briefly flared in her.

_Dustpaw... soon I will see you again._

Carefully, she padded to the end of the branch. Excitement began to pulse through her as she thought of hearing Dustpaw's purr again, seeing his eyes light up with high spirits as he saw how much she had been willing to give to stay with him.

"Smokepaw!"

Smokepaw looked down to see Mousetail, her aunt, below her. Alarm was flickering in her blue eyes.

"What are you doing up there? Come down!"

Anger surged in the pit of Smokepaw's stomach. "No!" she yowled back. "I won't! I... I need to see Dustpaw! I can't go on living without him!"

"But this isn't the way!" Mousetail's yowl was slightly panicked now. "Smokepaw, come _down_!"

"You can't make me!" Smokepaw retorted. Her throat was choked with emotion. "No one understands! I need to die! For Dustpaw's sake!"

"Dustpaw wouldn't have wanted that!" Mousetail gazed into Smokepaw's blue eyes, looking like she was trying to will her to understand. But Smokepaw didn't _want_ to understand.

"You didn't know Dustpaw!" Her mew shook as she screamed down at the senior warrior. "He loves me!"

"Which is exactly why he'd have wanted you to live!" Mousetail's whole body was shaking with fear now. "You can't just throw away your whole life!"

"Oh, yes I can." Smokepaw was shaking too, but with fury, not fear. "Just watch me."

And she stepped off the branch into thin air.


	5. I'll Stay With You Forever and Ever

**DISCLAIMER: In the beginning, there were the Erins. They said '_Let there be Warriors!_' And it was done.**

Three

"Dustpaw, stop it!"

Cedarpaw's words rang in Dustpaw's ears, but they meant nothing. All that mattered was that Smokepaw, his beloved, his treasured, was about to throw away her whole life for him, and Dustpaw wasn't about to let her.

His paws barely skimmed the ground as he raced towards Mousetail, who was standing with a look of blank horror on her face.

"_Move_, mousebrain!" he growled, butting into her flank and sending her towards the place where Smokepaw would fall. Then he shot upwards again to where Smokepaw was free-falling.

"Smokepaw, _never_ do this again, do you hear?" he hissed at her. His mew softened as he went on. "I love you, yes, but I don't want you dead. Mousetail was right. And I'll always be with you."

"What?" Smokepaw glanced wildly to either side of her. "D-Dustpaw?"

"I love you, Smokepaw," Dustpaw whispered, before leaving Smokepaw to fall - but Mousetail was there to catch her.

"Mousebrain!" Cedarpaw had come down to join him.

"What? Why? I couldn't let her kill herself!"

Cedarpaw let out a long sigh. "Come on. Let's go." She turned away and began padding upwards again.

"What was so wrong about me helping to save Smokepaw's life?" Dustpaw demanded.

Cedarpaw gave another sigh and turned to face him, her brilliant blue eyes unusually serious.

"Look, we're... not really supposed to interfere in cats' destinies," she mewed awkwardly.

"Destinies?" Dustpaw was furious. "She was out of her mind with grief, and I was just supposed to let her _kill_ herself? I... She has her whole life stretching out in front of her, Cedarpaw."

Cedarpaw blinked, her eyes brimming with emotion. "Oh, Dustpaw, I'm sorry. I... I didn't really understand what Smokepaw means to you, I guess. I... I..."

She seemed to be struggling to say something.

"What is it?" A shadow passed over Dustpaw's pale blue eyes.

"I... I wanted Smokepaw to die!" Cedarpaw burst out. "There, I said it."

"You..." Every hair on Dustpaw's pelt quivered with anger. "You _wanted_ her to die? Why?"

"Because... because... I'm lonely! There are only the kits to play with, and I'm desperate for another she-cat to be friends with."

"That's no reason to lie and try to get Smokepaw killed!" Dustpaw growled. "She doesn't deserve that!"

"I know that now, and I'm so, so sorry." Cedarpaw's eyes gleamed with an apology, but Dustpaw couldn't listen.

"I can't forgive you!" he hissed. "And I don't know how you expect me to!"

He heard a gasp from Cedarpaw, and caught a glimpse of her blue eyes, shining with hurt, before he turned tail and bolted away.

_How could she have even...? _Dustpaw shuddered away from the thought and glanced back over his shoulder. Cedarpaw had not pursued him - in fact, there were no StarClan cats in sight.

Dustpaw sat down and wrapped his pale grey tail around his paws. He gazed down at the forest - his _home_. All of that had been snatched away from him in a heartbeat.

No starry cats emerged to guide him to StarClan.

_Am I destined to walk alone?_

His eyes sought out one slender feline shape.

_Smokepaw,_ he thought, a jolt of pure love surging through his body as he stared at her smoky grey form. _I wish that we could be together now..._

Smokepaw was following Mousetail, looking unhurt except for a slight limp in her front left paw.

_Twisted,_ Dustpaw guessed. But as he looked closer, he saw that her tail was drooping, scoring a faint line through the leaves littering the ground, and her dark blue eyes glittered with sorrow.

_Oh, my Smokepaw... _Dustpaw's heart ached for the dark grey apprentice. _Don't be upset._

But that was impossible. He would be upset if she had died in his place. But... would he really go to the extent of killing himself to join her in StarClan?

_She really, really loved me, _he realized. Softly, his shining paws making no impact on the ground, Dustpaw padded swiftly over to join her. He felt a rush of fierce joy as his pelt brushed hers again - he could almost imagine that he was still alive.

Smokepaw looked up. "Dustpaw?" she whispered.

Dustpaw's heart leaped - she could sense him!

"It's me, Smokepaw."

"Oh, Dustpaw, I've missed you so much!"

"I've only been gone one day, you daft furball," Dustpaw purred. Somehow, all of his troubles seemed to fade away like mist in sunshine.

Smokepaw purred, and pressed herself against Dustpaw's shimmering side.

At that moment, Mousetail looked back over her shoulder.

"Smokepaw?" she mewed unsurely. "Who are you talking to?"

_She can't see me!_ Dustpaw realised - and with the realisation came a surge of satisfaction and glee. _No cat can stop me from being with Smokepaw forever!_

"N-no one," replied Smokepaw hastily. "I, um..."

"I know you're missing Dustpaw, Smokepaw," mewed Mousetail kindly, "but no more throwing yourself off the tops of trees, alright?"

Smokepaw nodded meekly, and Dustpaw let out a purr of amusement, his eyes sparking.

"Yes, Smokepaw. It's unhealthy to think thoughts like that."

Smokepaw stifled a purr of amusement, and Mousetail flashed her a confused glance before padding on.

"Don't _do_ that!" whispered Smokepaw. "She'll wonder what's so funny, and how can I tell her that the cat I love has come down from StarClan to see me?"

"You're right. Cats might start to think that you're slightly insane." Dustpaw nodded. "Mind you, you're supposed to be mourning, so perhaps you're entitled to lose your mind slightly. I'm serious, though," he added, fixing her with a stare. "You almost scared me out of my pelt! Don't ever think of doing that ever again, do you hear?"

Smokepaw nodded solemnly. "But, Dustpaw. Will you... will you stay with me?"

Dustpaw rasped his tongue over her ear, although she could probably barely feel it. "Of course I will. I'll stay forever and ever."


	6. It May Be Your Only Hope

**DISCLAIMER: Nope, I don't own Warriors. But I can dream... =daydreams=**

Four

Smokepaw emerged from the apprentice's den cautiously. She had asked Spottedstar the day before if she could return to training. Spottedstar had said yes, although looked slightly surprised.

"Smokepaw, are you ready to go?" Hazelstripe's voice sounded to her left. Smokepaw jumped and nodded.

"Yep, totally ready!" Beside her, Dustpaw bounced up and down. Since his death, he had taken to trying to make Smokepaw purr in amusement every heartbeat of the day. He looked around, feigning confusion. "Where's Thistlefur, then?"

Smokepaw hastily turned her squeal of laughter into a coughing fit.

"A-are you okay?" asked Hazelstripe, looking concerned. "I hope you haven't got greencough this early into the season..."

"No, no, I'm fine," Smokepaw mewed quickly. "I'm ready. Let's go."

"Okay..." Hazelstripe looked mystified, but luckily for Smokepaw she didn't pursue the subject. "We'll just do some light exercises today, nothing major-"

"No, really!" Smokepaw insisted. "I'm alright. I... er... want to get back into training to... take my mind off things?"

Hazelstripe shook her head. "Sorry. Flowerwing's orders."

Smokepaw groaned inwardly. Had every cat had taken an interest in her grief?

"Now," Hazelstripe began, "we're going to be training with Goldenpaw and her mentor today."

"Not that mousebrain!" Dustpaw rolled his eyes. Smokepaw felt a fluttering of panic disturb her belly, but she ignored it. Every cat had noticed Goldenpaw's attempts to get Dustpaw to notice her when he was alive. But it was okay, she reassured herself. Smokepaw had called her a mousebrain. It was all _fine_.

But what about Goldenpaw's mentor, Mousetail? Fortunately, Mousetail had covered for Smokepaw in calling her suicide attempt an 'accident'. She had just dislocated her front leg, and Flowerwing had put that right in two heartbeats. However, Smokepaw couldn't count on her aunt to cover for her forever.

"Over here!" Mousetail waved to them with her grey-furred tail. Hazelstripe nodded, acknowledging them, and bounded over, Smokepaw - and Dustpaw - in her wake.

"Now, who can remember the hunter's crouch?" Hazelstripe tested the two apprentices. At once, Goldenpaw shot downwards and moved stealthily over the leaf-strewn forest ground. Annoyed, Smokepaw instantly copied her.

"Don't worry," Dustpaw breathed in her ear. "She'll never be as good as you."

Warmed by his praise, Smokepaw leaped towards a squirrel she had seen nearby and dispatched it with a swift bite to the neck.

"Well done, Smokepaw," mewed Hazelstripe.

"It was a stupid squirrel anyway, to come this close to four cats," muttered Goldenpaw. Smokepaw quickly kicked earth over her kill, pleased despite Goldenpaw's words.

"Why don't you two hunt alone for a while?" Mousetail suggested. "It would be like a little assessment. Whoever brings back the most prey gets first pick of the fresh-kill pile."

"That's fine." Hazelstripe nodded. "Goldenpaw, you can hunt near the Sky Oak, and Smokepaw, you go near the abandoned Twoleg nest."

Goldenpaw had bounded off before Smokepaw had even had time to hear where she was supposed to go.

"Bye, then," Smokepaw mewed quickly, and leaped away into the bushes.

She had killed two mice and a sparrow before she noticed that Dustpaw hadn't said anything to her in a while.

"Dustpaw?" she whispered. There was no answer.

She turned around.

No starlit form.

"Where are you?" Still, nothing.

_You promised you'd stay with me... forever and ever! So why have you left me...?_

"Smokepaw."

Smokepaw whirled around. The mouse that she had just killed lay motionless on the ground, and beyond it, a starry shape. For a heartbeat, Smokepaw's heart leapt, before she realized that it wasn't Dustpaw. It was another cat, but she recognized it... it was cream-coloured, and it's tail-tip and ear-tips were black...

"Cedarpaw?"

Cedarpaw nodded. "I have come to tell you to... To let Dustpaw go."

"What?"

"You're getting too wrapped up in a world that you should only have to enter when you die," Cedarpaw mewed seriously. "Dustpaw needs to return to us, and you have to be the one to tell him so."

Fury was building inside Smokepaw. "But he wants to stay with me!"

"That still doesn't make it right." Cedarpaw's brilliant blue eyes pierced Smokepaw's.

"What harm is it doing?" snarled Smokepaw, suddenly aware of every hair on her pelt bristling.

Cedarpaw was whispering now. "It brings the stench of death."

Without really trying, Smokepaw tasted the air. "I can't smell anything."

"Mortal cats can't scent it." Cedarpaw's eyes were wide with fear, and her voice had dropped even lower.

Smokepaw stopped, for some reason now afraid. "M-mortal? What's do you mean, 'mortal'?"

"Cats that can... die."

"Th-there are cats that..." Smokepaw swallowed, her throat dry. "Can't die?"

"Only one."

Smokepaw had long ago stopped bristling, all thoughts of Dustpaw driven out of her head. "Who?"

Cedarpaw's eyes burned with a strange fire, and when she spoke, her voice rasped eerily. "_The chaos will arrive in ThunderClan, that not even serenity can prevent..._"

A cold lump of ice seemed to settle in Smokepaw's belly. "What do you mean?"

"It may already be too late." Cedarpaw was fading fast now. "Please, for the sake of your Clan... say your last goodbyes to Dustpaw. It's your only hope."


	7. Soon, Soon, There Soon

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own Warriors. That honour remains of the Erins alone. Damn.**

Five

It was dark. All dark, everywhere, a choking wave of blackness, engulfing, swallowing... nothing. Dustpaw couldn't think, he couldn't feel, he couldn't see, he couldn't hear, he couldn't scent, he couldn't taste, he couldn't _breathe_... But did a dead cat need to breathe anyway?

Fear. That was all. Fear, everywhere, crashing down on him, fear... But why? Fear...

What was it? That? _But why_...?

A thought. He could think. But now, now he could think... that only brought about panic. Panic, panic, panic, panic, panic...

_Why am I panicking? What's happening? _

_Fear, panic, fear, panic, fear, panic, fear, panic, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no..._

In the midst of the obscurity, a flash of pure white lit his senses. It was so brightly illuminated it hurt his eyes, and he wanted to look away, to cover his eyes, anything...

Wait.

_He could see_.

He could think. He could feel. He could see. The panic was still there, but it was dulled now, like some distant memory that had not yet taken shape.

The white orb of light was still there. It was starkly pale against the blackness of the gloom, and now, as Dustpaw squinted at it, there was another colour glowing in the middle of it.

Red.

Dustpaw couldn't suppress the cry of shock that escaped him as memories flowed back - fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting, fur snagging against claws, blatantly red blood shining against a dark-furred flank, falling, falling, falling, falling, a scream, scream, scream, scream...

"Dustpaw!"

***

Cedarpaw wrenched her gaze away from Smokepaw, who was curled up on the ground, broken.

"How could we do this to her?" she whispered to the brown she-cat beside her.

"She will learn to live without Dustpaw." The brown she-cat rasped her tongue over Cedarpaw's ear, and the StarClan apprentice felt like a kit again, warm and safe in the nursery.

"Longfoot?"

"Yes?"

Cedarpaw looked up into Longfoot's eyes, willing her to tell the truth. "Is it too late?"

Longfoot looked away, over the horizon, where the sun was setting slowly, its rays bleeding into the water at the sun-drown-place.

"I think you already know the answer to that."

Cedarpaw's stomach gave an uncomfortable jolt. "And it's all my fault..."

Longfoot said nothing.

_If I hadn't said anything... If I'd been less selfish... Dustpaw wouldn't have run away... And the stench of death would never have drawn... _it_... close..._

"So it won't make any difference if Smokepaw says goodbye to Dustpaw or not?" asked Cedarpaw tentatively.

"Oh, it will make all the difference." Longfoot sighed. "But I don't know if Dustpaw will be able to hear her from where he is now."

***

The light was gone. All of it.

Dustpaw was struggling to bear the weight of his life's memories now. Emotions were whirling through him faster than a Twoleg monster, but none of them were agreeable emotions; rage, fear, heartache, disappointment, guilt, depression, resentfulness... But most of all a terrible, terrible anguish.

For he realized, now, who it was that he felt that he couldn't exist without, and he missed her so much he could barely believe he had forgotten her in the first place.

"Smokepaw." His voice echoed weirdly in the gloom, like a cave, but different...

It echoed back in different voices to his. And as they did, images of assorted cats floated to his mind.

"Smokepaw, your mentor will be Hazelstripe..."

_Spottedstar... why am I thinking of my Clan leader?_

"Smokepaw, come and make your den next to us!"

_Huh? Toadpaw? Wait... I can remember him saying that!_

"Smokepaw, fetch Dustpaw. He's lazier than a hibernating hedgehog - and on his first day of training, too!"

_Thistlefur... my mentor...?_

"Come on, Smokepaw. What can you scent?"

_Hey, wait, that's Hazelstripe!_

"That's it, Smokepaw! That crouch is nearly right."

_I remember when Blueheart watched that training session!_

"Oh, great StarClan! Smokepaw!"

_That... that was when I first died! When I was talking to Cedarpaw!_

"Come on, Smokepaw... I'm sorry, but..."

_Larchwhisker? This must be when I died!_

"Smokepaw, what are you doing up there? Come down!"

_Mousetail... trying to stop Smokepaw..._

"Smokepaw, never do this again, do you hear?"

_That's me! I... I never knew that I sounded that frightening._

"Smokepaw... I have come to tell you... to let Dustpaw go."

_C-Cedarpaw? No! She can't... She can't have said that to Smokepaw!_

Fury was now Dustpaw's dominant emotion - it pulsed through his veins like poison.

_Smokepaw doesn't know that Cedarpaw wants her dead! She-_

But his thought was cut short by a stream of words in a voice he never thought he'd hear again.

"Sure, Toadpaw. Come on, Dustki- Dust_paw_, let's go!"

"Of course. You're right, he _can_ be lazy, but we love him for it."

"Erm... mouse, and squirrel. No scent of fox or Twoleg. That's good, right?"

"Thanks! I've been practising with Dustpaw."

"You can't. I won't let you. He's _not_ dead."

"No! I won't! I... I need to see Dustpaw! I can't go on living without him!"

"What? D-Dustpaw?"

"But he wants to stay with me! What harm is it doing?"

Dustpaw's breaths were harsh and ragged as the voices faded away. Though they weren't standing on anything, his legs gave way and he crumpled.

"I've got to get out of here," he whispered to himself brokenly.

***

"Cold. Harsh winds. My fur, well it blends with the snow." The small white cat, no larger than a kit, whispered to herself. No cat answered - why would they? This white cat was all alone. "Sister gone. She foolish. But I...? Not I."

The small cat paused to scent the air. Contentment rose in her as her sharp nose scented what she had been looking for. Even through the snow she could scent it. Even though it was a little under a mountain-length away. "Soon," she promised herself. "There soon."

For nothing could keep it away from her.

"Soon," she breathed again. "Soon."


	8. No Cat Stop Me, I Take

**DISCLAIMER: Hee hee hee =plays with Warriors figurines=  
=Erins frown=  
=hangs head and gives figurines back to Erins= I don't own Warriors...**

Six

"Dustpaw!" Smokepaw screamed again. Every word tore at her throat, but she didn't care. "Where are you? Dustpaw!"

Every breath was painful now. Images started flashing through her head; the day she and Dustpaw were made apprentices, hunting together, play-fighting in front of the apprentice den, fighting together against ShadowClan, Dustpaw's broken body...

"No!" Smokepaw screeched. "Dustpaw, where are you?"

"Smokepaw..."

"No, Dustpaw! _Dustpaw_!"

"Smokepaw..."

"I don't want you, I want Dustpaw! I want Dustpaw!"

"Smokepaw, calm down and listen..."

The images in Smokepaw's mind snapped away in a heartbeat. Somehow, she had ended up curled into a ball on the forest floor. Cats were sitting beside me, their tails curled around their paws, just gazing intently at me.

"Wh-who are you?" Smokepaw was instantly suspicious.

"Peace, small warrior." A large orange tom, the colour of leaves in leaf-fall, laid his tail on Smokepaw's shoulder. His mew was hoarse and rasping, and she sensed at once that this cat was old, much older than any of her elders.

"Have you come to tell me to get rid of Dustpaw?" Smokepaw eyed the thirteen cats uncertainly. "Because... because I can't find him, alright?" Her mew turned shrill with desperation. "I... I think he's left me!"

"Dearest Smokepaw, Dustpaw would never leave you," mewed a dark grey tom. His mew, like the first cats', was rusty and whispered with ancient secrets. "He loves you." His large, unblinking amber gaze bored into Smokepaw's until she had to tear her eyes away.

"Then explain why he's not here!" Smokepaw's throat constricted painfully, as though she had a prey-bone stuck in her throat.

A red-brown tom with green eyes gave a long sigh. "Because of you."

"What?" Smokepaw froze. "_Me_? But... but he wanted to stay here, he..."

"Dustpaw made a mistake," mewed a tom with yellow tabby stripes. "He was young, and knew not of the secrets of StarClan."

"Where _is _he?" whispered Smokepaw.

A blue-grey she-cat fixed her light blue gaze on Smokepaw. "In a place darker than The Place of No Stars."

"Th-that's where dead cats who have broken the warrior code knowingly go, right?" Smokepaw blinked, terrified. "But Dustpaw isn't a bad cat!"

"Of course not," agreed a tom with bright green eyes and a flame-coloured pelt. "Dustpaw was a cat as loyal as any."

"But he made a grave error in padding after you even after his death," a dark brown tabby tom went on. "Did Cedarpaw tell you about the stench of death?"

Smokepaw snorted derisively, he fear momentarily evaporating. "She told me I had to get rid of Dustpaw! But she's just jealous, because... because..." She faltered at the expressions on her companions' faces. "R-right?"

A dark cream she-cat shook her head. "No - Cedarpaw was trying to protect you."

"You see, she wasn't lying at all," explained a grey tom, with fur as dark as stormclouds. "If a dead cat does what Dustpaw did - attempt to outlaw themselves from StarClan and fashion themselves a new 'life' where living cats live - a terrible presence is brought near."

A shiver passed around the group of cats, and Smokepaw felt as though the air temperature had dropped.

"A... terrible presence?" she whispered. "Do... do you mean that cat that can't die?"

A pale grey she-cat nodded once. "That cat doesn't come from here. In fact, she doesn't even come from anywhere StarClan can see."

"Further than the sun-drown-place?"

"Much, much further than the sun-drown-place," confirmed an ornery grey tom. "Further than ten sun-drown-places."

***

The small white cat pricked its ears. It could hear the faint murmurings of cats, and it could smell their scents strongly - heathery, fishy, rotting like crowfood... But the small cat wasn't interested in those scents. Drawing in the scents again, the white cat scented the one it wanted - the woodland-scented cat odour.

The small cat bared its tiny, sharp teeth in a snarl of triumph as it caught sight of a shining lake, with woodland, moorland, a pine forest, and a river spread out around it.

"Here," the white cat whispered. "Cats watch out. Dead cat gone. I banish. Stench of death linger. Linger on one cat. No cat stop me. I take."

***

Smokepaw opened her jaws to ask another question, but, in one flowing movement, all thirteen cats turned their heads in the direction in which Smokepaw knew the Moonpool was located.

Alarm flared in their eyes.

"It's _here_," hissed a tawny she-cat.

"Listen," mewed a white tom with ginger patches urgently. "This has only happened once before - to a ShadowClan cat. No cat knew what happened - even we did not. Neither of the two ShadowClan cats are now either in StarClan, nor, to our knowledge, alive."

Smokepaw's blood ran cold. Was this really the price to be paid for wanting to stay with Dustpaw forever?

"What can I do?" she asked.

"Be careful," murmured all thirteen cats as one. They were starting to fade.

"Who are you?"

"The _thundering_ _owl_, whose wing hides the _sun_ that shines on the _pine_ trees, catches the _fire_ and turns it _blue_, which razes along the _brambles_ and _roses_, before the _storm _sends the _squirrels_ to hide and reduces it to _cinders_, while the _moths_ flit about trying to hide, before the _tawny_ owl returns once again and leaves behind a shimmering _star_," the thirteen cats whispered.

"What? What do you mean?" wailed Smokepaw.

"_The chaos will arrive in ThunderClan, that not even serenity can prevent..._" the cats whispered.


	9. It's Here

**DISCLAIMER: Alas, I do not own Warriors. =cries in corner=**

Seven

"Oh, yes, of course, our first leader was Thunder," Whiteflower nodded. "Owlstar came after him, you know, and there was a story behind that, actually, about how he-"

"Alright, alright!" Smokepaw knew she was being rude to the elder, but there was no time for tact. She had raced back to the ThunderClan camp - and the elders' den - with an idea half-formed in her mind. "Who was leader after Owlstar?"

Whiteflower looked indignant. "Excuse me, young Smokepaw! I know you're unhappy about Dustpaw dying, but I've seen more cats die than you have stripes on your pelt!"

"Please," Smokepaw tried again, hyper-aware of time swiftly running out. "Who was the ThunderClan leader after Owlstar?"

"Well, there's no need to get quite so snippy," Whiteflower muttered. "It was Pinestar, if I remember rightly. Then came Sunstar - and he had a particularly short leadership, and so Bluestar became the ThunderClan leader fairly young."

Smokepaw was running through the sentence in her mind. "Thunder... Owl... Sun... Pine... Blue... Whiteflower, was the next leader called Firestar?"

The old white she-cat looked surprised. "Why, you do know your history after all! But then again, who could forget the great kittypet leader Firestar, who led the Clans to this new home, and subject of the prophecy '_fire alone can save our Clan_'?"

"Mmn..." replied Smokepaw, only half-listening. "Was it... was it Bramblestar next?"

"Indeed it was. Son of the evil leader Tigerstar, but sharing none of his ambition-"

"Then Rosestar? Then... then Stormstar? And Squirrelstar? And, and-"

"Hold on, there!" Whiteflower interrupted. "Looks like you know better than me!"

"Please, I need to know," Smokepaw begged.

Whiteflower barely had time to nod before Smokepaw steamrollered off again.

"Was it Cinderstar next?"

"Yes, just before Mothstar."

"And Tawnystar came after that, right?" asked Smokepaw eagerly. Whiteflower nodded.

"Another unusually short leadership, just before our very own Spottedstar became-" She broke off crossly as Smokepaw rose to her paws and raced away. "Hey, where are you going?" When Smokepaw didn't answer, she shook her head. "Young cats these days," she muttered. "Always dashing about."

"The _thundering_ _owl_, whose wing hides the _sun_ that shines on the _pine_ trees, catches the _fire_ and turns it _blue_, which razes along the _brambles_ and _roses_, before the _storm _sends the _squirrels_ to hide and reduces it to _cinders_, while the _moths_ flit about trying to hide, before the _tawny_ owl returns once again and leaves behind a shimmering _star_..." Smokepaw muttered, pacing around near the fresh-kill pile. "They _were_ telling me who they were!"

For a heartbeat, she allowed herself to be staggered by the fact that she had been visited by all the leaders of ThunderClan - the situation must have grown very serious indeed, for Thunder and Owlstar to be summoned back from the very beginning.

Suddenly, a foreign scent slammed into the roof of Smokepaw's mouth. Automatically, it seemed, Smokepaw turned her head to the entrance to camp, along with all the other cats.

Fear crashed onto her like a great wave of water from the lake. A tiny, snow-white she-kit was standing at the entrance to camp - it didn't look like that much of a threat. But Smokepaw's legs felt like water with terror, and she felt as though Thunder, Owlstar, Pinestar, Sunstar, Bluestar, Firestar, Bramblestar, Rosestar, Stormstar, Squirrelstar, Cinderstar, Mothstar, and Tawnystar were all whispering in her ear at the same heartbeat, but somehow it was in one cat's voice.

_It's here._

"It's a kit!" Ivyleaf dashed out of the nursery. "Do you think it's lost?"

The kit opened her jaws, and... _spoke_. "Help I do not need." Her voice was smooth and dainty, and it made Smokepaw want to relax, though every hair on her pelt was trembling with dread. "Far I have travelled, here I only stop temporarily. Rest I only ask."

"Erm..." Ivyleaf's jaws gaped open with surprise.

"That is not problem, yes?" The small white cat's voice was sweet.

"Of course not." Spottedstar emerged from her den and made her way over to the cat. "Welcome to ThunderClan. My name is Spottedstar, and I am the leader of ThunderClan. If it is only rest you require, we shall be happy to assist."

"Many thanks I give to you." The small white cat looked up for the first time, and a shocked gasp rippled around the camp.

"Y-you're welcome," stuttered Spottedstar, attempting to compose herself. "You may sleep in the apprentice's den, er..."

"My name Chaos is." The kit gave one nod, as though to acknowledge the tortoiseshell leader. "Many thanks I give you," she repeated, before fixing Smokepaw with a penatrating stare.

The small, white she-cat's eyes were as brilliantly red as deathberries.


	10. Welcome to Your New Home

**DISCLAIMER: Damn, I've run out of good disclaimers... But if I don't disclaim, I'll get sued... =thinks hard, tapping forehead like Winnie The Pooh= I don't own Warriors? Don't know why I put a question mark there, because I'm pretty sure I don't...**

Eight

Smokepaw couldn't sleep. Her eyes kept darting towards Chaos. _Why_, oh _why_ did Spottedstar have to offer the white-furred she-cat a nest in the apprentice's den? And _why_ did the only spot Chaos seemed to want have to be next to Smokepaw?

But Smokepaw could then answer her own question.

_It's because it still smells of Dustpaw. And... she wants me. In some way, she wants _me_._

"No sleep available for you?" Chaos's honey-sweet voice made Smokepaw jump.

"A-available?" mewed Smokepaw cautiously.

"Yes. Catch sleep you do, a while you play with it, and then, when comes the daylight, kill it you do." Chaos's whiskers trembled and Smokepaw was certain that she was laughing at her. The dark grey she-cat stood up.

"I'm going for a walk," she hissed, before stalking out of the apprentice's den with as much dignity as she could, whilst trying not to step on Mintpaw.

"Wait!"

Smokepaw did not slow down, and she strode through the forest at a constant pace.

"Offend you I did not mean to do," Chaos mewed, stepping so that she was in front of Smokepaw and blinking her blood-red eyes innocently.

"Oh, don't give me that!" spat Smokepaw. She wasn't sure why so much anger was welling up inside her, but suddenly she needed to expel it on some cat. "I know exactly why you're here, so you can drop the act right now!"

The fur on the white she-cat's spine pricked up, and her eyes lost all charm and flashed terrifyingly, so for a heartbeat Smokepaw was quite scared.

"Smart you are," Chaos hissed menacingly. "But know you not come I from where. Place I come from place you call sacred, it is. Hah! Sacred it is not. Alone I was there, but stench of death called, and I come. Sister, too, though foolish is she. No cat stop me last time and this time same. Hushed up it was, last time. Cats there no more. Killed by badger, say they. I no badger. But scent from other cat so strong, keep that cat I must. Keep dead cat from last time, too. Scent makes senses of mine stronger. I smell. I hear. Better than other cat."

It took a few heartbeats for Smokepaw to decipher this sentence, but when she managed it, her fur fluffed up in fear.

"It was the ShadowClan cats, wasn't it?" she breathed.

"You talk no more," Chaos spat.

"I'll just... go back to camp, then..." Smokepaw made as though to turn back, but was stopped in her tracks by one word.

"No."

"What?"

"You not return. With me you now stay."

"But... my home is in ThunderClan!" mewed Smokepaw, horrified.

"Home." The white she-cat's mouth curled in a snarl. "I once had home. Home cats taunt me for my eyes. There is no _home_."

"Well, _I_ have a home," replied Smokepaw. "And it's in _ThunderClan_."

"No more!" Chaos snarled. "You will come now."

She turned away and flicked her tail, motioning Smokepaw to follow. For a heartbeat, Smokepaw thought about fleeing, but then she remembered one of the most horrific elder's tales - Scourge of BloodClan, no bigger than an apprentice, but with the power to kill a leader with nine lives in one blow. Just hearing that tale had given her nightmares as a kit.

Silently, Smokepaw padded after the tiny white-furred cat.

***

"Where are we-"

"_Silence_!" hissed Chaos. "Soon be there we will be."

Smokepaw shut her jaws, briefly wondering how her mew had changed from honey-sweet to cold and rasping.

Chaos led Smokepaw out of ThunderClan territory. Now they had crossed onto WindClan's hills.

"Um..." tried Smokepaw. "Technically I'm not allowed-"

A wordless hiss of annoyance silenced her again.

_Where am I going? _Smokepaw wondered. _I... it looks like... we're heading... for the Moonpool..._

The gurgling of the Moonpool stream felt like it had come from some long-forgotten world. In spite of herself, Smokepaw's curiousity grew as Chaos led her behind the cavern that spiralled down to the Moonpool.

A croak came from a dark tunnel ahead.

"Chaos? Is that... are you back?"

Chaos said nothing.

There was a pause, before; "You've brought another cat, haven't you? I've told you, no other cat deserves my life!"

"This one same thing as you did." Chaos's mew was sneering, cold. She turned to Smokepaw. "Welcome to your new... _home_."

Smokepaw threw Chaos a look full of contempt. _I could overpower you in two heartbeats!_

The smaller cat seemed to read her mind. "Don't get any ideas," she whispered, before motioning into the tunnel with her tail.

Gathering up all her courage, Smokepaw took a deep breath, and stepped into the blackness of the tunnel.


	11. She Won't Let You Go Now

**DISCLAIMER: Confession - I am actually an Erin in disguise!  
=is shot by real Erins=  
IN STARCLAN...  
Okay, okay, _fine_! That was a lie - I don't own Warriors.**

Nine

Smokepaw blinked, her eyes adjusting to the half-gloom. To her surprise, there were two cats hunched in a corner of the cavern. One was white-furred, although her coat was so matted with dirt it looked almost grey. Her muzzle, though, was silver, telling Smokepaw that she was as old as any of any Clan's elders.

The other cat was younger - a she-cat that looked only a little older than Smokepaw herself. Underneath the filth, her coat was a dark tabby grey. She glanced up as Smokepaw entered, her green eyes guarded.

Smokepaw stared in shock. These cats looked like they hardly bothered to groom themselves any more.

"Erm... hi," she started.

"_Shhhhhhh_!" hissed the two she-cats at once, sending identical, scared glances to the mouth of the tunnel.

"Sorry." Smokepaw lowered her voice to a whisper. "My name is Smokepaw."

The younger cat gave Smokepaw a quick sniff. When she spoke, her voice cracked, as though she hadn't used it in a long time. "You're a ThunderClan cat, aren't you?" When Smokepaw nodded, she added hopelessly, "Well, you were..."

"What do you mean?" whispered Smokepaw in alarm. "I'm still a ThunderClan cat!"

The two she-cats exchanged dark glances. "Chaos won't let you go now," the grey tabby she-cat told Smokepaw.

Smokepaw's heart started to thump wildly. "But she's so tiny! I could knock her down in two heartbeats!"

"Don't try," the she-cat advised. "If you did the same thing as me..." She gave a heavy sigh. "You've just given Chaos a fresh dose of the scent of death. With yours and mine combined, her senses of scent and hearing will be sharply defined, and so will her battle skills."

Smokepaw couldn't think of anything to say to this, so she just settled with, "Are you... are you that ShadowClan cat?"

The dark grey tabby she-cat sighed. "I was a ShadowClan cat once. My name was Duskfire."

"Was?"

"Living alone, with nothing to do but eat rotting crowfood, a cat doesn't need a name."

Smokepaw glanced to where Duskfire's tail was pointing. Maggots were wriggling around a rat carcass. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "You eat _crowfood_?"

"We have no choice." This time, it was the white she-cat who answered. Her voice was rasping and rusty with age. "Chaos only feeds us twice a moon, and the food she gives us isn't exactly _fresh_." She gave a humourless purr.

Smokepaw shuddered. "Don't you even groom yourselves?" she asked, eyeing the two cats' matted pelts.

Duskfire shrugged. "There's no point," she mewed hopelessly. "There's no way out of here. Serenity's been here for longer than either of us. She's tried."

"Serenity? Is that your name?" Smokepaw addressed the white she-cat. Something in that name stirred her memory, but she wasn't sure what.

The white she-cat nodded. "Chaos is my sister," she spat. "She swore that we would find something... _great_. She persuaded me to leave my home. It was always going to be Chaos and Serenity, but she _lied_."

Smokepaw gasped. "If the chaos comes, not even serenity can save you..." she murmured.

"What? What is it?" asked Duskfire.

"I... I had a prophecy from StarClan a while ago," Smokepaw mewed. "They told me, '_If the chaos comes, not even serenity can save you..._'"

"That's just it, though, isn't it?" Serenity's dark blue eyes flashed with anger. "It's hopeless. Not even I can save you."

Smokepaw's shoulders sagged. But she wasn't about to give up. "Well, neither of you are any use to any cat hunched up here like this, feeling sorry for yourselves," she mewed briskly. "Sit up, have a stretch, and give yourself a wash."

"I suppose..." Duskfire sighed. She sat up from her crouched position and uncurled her limbs. Serenity hesitated, before she followed Duskfire's lead.

"Aah, that feels much better," Serenity purred, stretching her forelegs out of their former cramped position.

"That's it," Smokepaw encouraged. "Now, if you'll groom yourself, you'll feel like a whole different cat."

Duskfire obediently bent her head and began washing her flank with rapid, delicate strokes. Smokepaw padded over to help Serenity - her ancient bones were clearly having difficulties.

"I can do it!" Serenity hissed. "I don't need your help!"

"I was just wondering if you wanted any help getting rid of some of those ticks," Smokepaw offered politely.

Serenity's eyes softened, and she lowered her eyes. "Well, that would be very kind of you," she mewed quietly, still not taking her eyes off her paws. "I've never had another cat take care of me before."

Once Smokepaw had cracked all of the plump ticks she could reach beneath her teeth, she straightened up. It was like looking at two different cats - their pelts were sleeker and glossier, and they were sitting up properly, their tails curled around their paws.

"Now, Serenity," mewed Smokepaw to the elderly white she-cat, "please, tell us everything you know about Chaos."


	12. The First Icy Shard of Jealousy

**DISCLAIMER: .. / -.. --- -. - / --- .-- -. / .-- .- .-. .-. .. --- .-. ... .-.-.-  
Guess what? That's Morse Code for 'I don't own Warriors'! (I've used the slashes as an indication of 'new word')**

Ten

"We lived for many moons behind a place similar to this one," Serenity began, her voice still whispered. "But instead of the Shining Pool being in the cavern, instead, there was the Shining Stone."

"Shining Stone...?" asked Smokepaw, puzzled. Then, her eyes widened. "Do you mean the Moonstone?" If the 'Shining Pool' meant the Moonpool, which it clearly did, maybe the 'Shining Stone' would mean the Moonstone... the revered stone for sharing tongues with StarClan back in the long-forgotten old forest, in which cats had walked more than several lifetimes ago. "That would explain what Chaos meant when she said she came from a place I would call sacred..." she murmured to herself.

"Maybe you know it by a different name..." Serenity shook her head, looking exhausted. "But, no matter. We lived there for many moons-"

"Wait a heartbeat." Duskfire spoke up suddenly. "Who do you mean by 'we', Serenity? Do you mean just you and Chaos? Or were there more of you?"

Smokepaw blinked. She hadn't thought of that. Were there more cats beside the Chaos and Serenity?

"There were more of us than just the two of us," Serenity confirmed, nodding slowly. "There was me, my sister, our mother, Song, our father, Ice, my mother's sister, Star, and her kits, Lion, Tiger, and Leopard."

Duskfire nodded, her green eyes serious. "I see..."

"When Chaos and I were born," Serenity continued, "Song and Ice were startled by my sister's eye colour. But they grew used to it over time, and didn't treat her any different to the way they treated me. However, Chaos always saw me as the favourite. I think... I think that's what started it."

"What did it start?" Duskfire whispered, her green eyes large.

"The first icy shard of jealousy crept into her heart," sighed Serenity heavily. "And I regret to say, I was not much help." Her voice grew bitter. "Quite the opposite, in fact. I did like to taunt her, at times, for her eyes. Their colour secretly scared me... It scared all of us, I think, deep inside. I didn't think that it was natural. And when Lion, Tiger, and Leopard heard me, they saw no reason not to do the same as their older cousin."

Smokepaw said nothing as Serenity's voice died, allowing her a few heartbeats to torture herself for doing such things to her sister, just listening to a steady _drip, drip, drip_ of water that was leaking into the tunnel from overhead.

"What happened then?" asked Duskfire in an undertone, her eyes fixed on Serenity.

Serenity blinked, jolted out of her memories. "Her heart became blackened with jealousy. No cat noticed. She disappeared into the Cavern of the Shining Stone more often than she had before, though none of us found anything unusual about that. But I did notice when our cousins - who were ten moons younger than us - grew larger than Chaos. I found that quite odd - yet another reason for me to tease her.

"And then... after that... just three moons later, she told me she knew of a great place where the prey leaps into your paws, and where there were no foxes, or badgers, or even Twolegs with their dogs. She told me that the others would come soon after us. I agreed to go with her, greedy as I was. We were all scared of the great Twoleg nests, with their unpredictable inhabitants and roaring monsters. If any of the others were offered the chance, I think that they would have gladly grasped it - and ended up in the same filthy tunnel we are all sitting in right now.

"I... I don't know why she can't die. I don't know why she doesn't age." Serenity's voice faltered. Duskfire padded up to her and pressed against the elderly she-cat's flank comfortingly.

"How do you..." Duskfire hesitated for a heartbeat. "How do you know she can't die?"

Serenity's dark blue eyes were fixed firmly on her paws. When she spoke, her voice was very low. "After less than a moon of being down here, I asked Chaos why she wasn't down here with me. Where was the plump fresh-kill? Why was there only this stinking crowfood? And... she told me. She told me everything. About how she had tricked me to get here. About how she had found this place. And about how she didn't need me here at all... about how he had just brought me here for revenge about what I had done in our kithood. She didn't sound at all like she regretted it. She sounded... _triumphant_. And that... that was too much for me. I... I unsheathed my claws, and..." Serenity broke off.

Smokepaw's heart ached with pity for the elderly white she-cat. She could just imagine it - a younger Serenity leaping at her sister, claws outstretched, and attacking the small white cat until her blood stained the ground. And Smokepaw could imagine far too easily the expression of horror on her face as she realised what she had done.

"But then... she was back," Serenity breathed. "I couldn't believe it. Her fur was wet with blood, but I couldn't even see the great gash I had made in her side. She told me that I could never destroy her. That she couldn't die. She-"

"That's right," a soft voice mewed behind them - sweet as honey, yet still menacing, cold. Smokepaw froze. "Don't any of you even try. Because I will live forever."


	13. I Can't Believe I Was so Selfish

**DISCLAIMER: Do I own Warriors? No. Next question, please.**

Eleven

Dustpaw had resorted to curling up in a ball with his eyes tightly closed, listening to replays of his life and wishing that he was with Smokepaw. He didn't know how long he had been in this position. It may have been a heartbeat... a day... a moon... maybe even several moons...

"Smokepaw..." he murmured.

"H-hello?"

"S-Smokepaw..."

"Hello? Can you hear me?"

Dustpaw realised that the faint, thin voice seemed to be speaking to him. His heart shot up for two heartbeats before he realized that the voice was not Smokepaw - it wasn't even the voice of a she-cat.

He opened his blue eyes. It didn't make very much difference - he could still only see darkness. He turned his head, trying to see who had spoken. Almost at once, the pale shape of a cat came into his line of vision, several foxlengths away. The cat was a brown tabby tom with amber eyes, but Dustpaw could only see him dimly, as though he were trying to see the cat's reflection in the lake on a day when the wind was ruffling the surface.

But it was still another cat. Dustpaw was so relieved that he couldn't find his voice.

"Are you here because of Chaos too?"

The cat took a few pawsteps forward and stared at Dustpaw intently.

"Wh-what?" Dustpaw blinked, a growing feeling of dread rising in the pit of his stomach. He was also surprised at how rasping his voice sounded, like he hadn't used it in moons. "Who's that?"

The tabby tom took several more pawsteps forward. "You mean you don't know why you're trapped in this... place of torture?"

Dustpaw's eyes widened. "You hear the voices too?"

The other cat nodded solemnly. "Every day." He turned his head slightly and gazed into the blackness.

"So, where are we?"

The other cat shrugged, and gave a small, hopeless sigh. "StarClan knows."

Dustpaw's heart leaped at the mention of StarClan. "You know StarClan?"

"Of course I do." The brown cat nodded. "Who doesn't? I used to be a ShadowClan cat, before..." He broke off.

"Before what?" asked Dustpaw eagerly. At last, he would get somewhere. Anything to distract him from his life's memories.

"I'd better start at the beginning." The tabby tom fixed his eyes on Dustpaw's. "My name is Eaglestripe. I used to be a warrior of ShadowClan."

"I'm Dustpaw," Dustpaw introduced himself quickly. "Before I died, I was a ThunderClan apprentice."

Eaglestripe nodded, and continued, "I was a young warrior. I had fallen head over paws in love with a beautiful young she-cat." Eaglestripe sighed blissfully. "And she was in love with me. Our life together seemed too good to be true... and it was." His amber eyes darkened. "I was hit by a monster on the Thunderpath. I was dead, but... I wasn't satisfied. She was pining for me. She was desperately unhappy. And so... I tried to stay with her. And for a time, we were happy. Until we found out that an immortal cat - a cat that couldn't die - had been attracted by my presence. We were afraid... I closed my eyes for a heartbeat, and... I ended up here."

Eaglestripe ended his story and shook his head.

"It was my fault... all my fault..." he murmured. "Who knows where she is? Who knows what has happened to her?"

Dustpaw's heart was thudding. "That sounds almost _exactly_..." he breathed.

"I thought so." Eaglestripe let out a long sigh. "I don't know if there's any way out. It's just..." He trailed off, shaking his head. Dustpaw said nothing. He stared at his paws. A cat that couldn't die...

"It's all my fault too," mewed Dustpaw in a low voice. "I can't believe I was so selfish..."

"Me neither." Eaglestripe nodded slowly in agreement.

"I just want Smokepaw back..." Dustpaw whispered, half to himself. "That was her name."

"I understand." Eaglestripe lay down on his side and put his head on his paws. "I feel the same about Duskfire."

***

"What are you doing here?" hissed Smokepaw furiously, her eyes narrowing. She felt as ready spit venom at the little white cat as an adder.

"Wanted to know where your dear Dustpaw and Eaglestripe are, I wondered?" Chaos answered pleasantly. Smokepaw and Duskfire froze.

"Dustpaw?" whispered Smokepaw, at the same moment that Duskfire mewed in a hushed voice, "Eaglestripe?"

"Well," mewed Chaos innocently, "just follow me, if like to you would know."

She set off down the tunnel, not even checking to see if Smokepaw and Duskfire were following.

"I don't know... should we trust her?" asked Smokepaw immediately. She had already guessed that Duskfire had done about the same as her. Eaglestripe must be the cat she had been in love with.

"I don't know..." Duskfire mewed, although there was a longing edge to her voice.

"I think that you should go," mewed Serenity unexpectedly. Smokepaw and Duskfire stared at her in surprise. She nodded. "If you don't go, Chaos will only force you to. I'm coming with you, though."

"What if Chaos tries to stop you?" Duskfire pointed out nervously.

Smokepaw nodded anxiously. "Duskfire's right - you're terribly weak from lack of food."

Serenity lifted her chin proudly. "Then that will give you time to escape."


	14. She's Not Telling The Truth

**DISCLAIMER: Okay... Warriors was definitely not my creation. Just in case any of you were wondering.**

Twelve

Duskfire padded out first, with Serenity in the middle and Smokepaw following close behind. The three she-cats lined up and glared at Chaos. Smokepaw tried to put all the hatred and contempt she felt into that one glance. However, Chaos didn't flinch. She just gazed back with those crimson eyes.

"My sister, too? Come you will..." She let out a purr. "Punish you this will..."

"Why will this punish me, Chaos?" asked Serenity coldly, her dark blue gaze boring into her sister's. "I have done nothing wrong for many moons."

"Aaah..." The smaller cat's whiskers twitched. "Know you not cats that I have. Not only_ that _one I left to bring." She nodded in Smokepaw's direction.

Smokepaw glanced at Duskfire. She shook her head slightly, her green eyes confused.

Chaos was silent for a few more heartbeats. Smokepaw then grew impatient.

"Well?" she snapped. "Are you going to tell us or not?"

Chaos opened her jaws, but a voice came from behind them.

"It was us."

Smokepaw whipped her head around so fast it could have rivalled the speed of Chaos. Three pure white cats - younger than Serenity, but moons older than Duskfire - stood behind them, their eyes narrowed, their lips drawn back in identical snarls.

"Lion!" Serenity gasped. "Tiger! Leopard!"

"That's right." The middle cat fixed his gaze on Chaos and unsheathed his claws.

"Bother you should not," Chaos snarled. "Die I cannot. Defeat me you could not when I brought you, and defeat me you cannot now."

"Try us!" mewed the cat on the left side.

"No - don't!" Duskfire put in quickly, alarmed. "She's telling the truth - she can't die!"

"She's not telling the truth." The cat on the right side stepped forward, eyeing his small cousin with hatred in his amber eyes.

"Tiger, what are you mewing about?" Serenity looked confused.

Smokepaw glanced over at Chaos. For the first time, there was a glimmer of something that could have been fear in her scarlet eyes.

"I'll tell them." The she-cat on the left side stepped forward. "When we were little, we lived by the Shining Cavern. Chaos used to escape there all the time when we teased her about her eyes..."

"_Stop it_!" Chaos screeched suddenly. "Stop, _now_!"

"Carry on, Leopard," mewed Serenity calmly. "I'm interested."

Leopard nodded, blinked her leaf-green eyes, and continued. "One night - just for a joke - I followed her, ready to call her names. But then I saw a huge, glittering white stone. It was three tail-lengths high, and Chaos was fast asleep with her nose pressed against it. Curious, I copied her, and fell asleep at once.

"I opened my eyes to see some cats with stars in their fur gathered around something I couldn't see. I hid behind nearby bush and peered out. They were discussing something - a light brown tom, a tom with patchy fur, and a white she-cat. The tom with the patchy fur said something about... that they had a Life, or something. A Life that they were supposed to 'give' to a 'new leader', but they apparently had 'no use' for it since they were 'gone'.

"I didn't have any idea what they were mewing about, but then Chaos jumped out from behind a tree and started snarling at the three cats. They were so startled, they did nothing, and so Chaos dived in between them and swallowed something that was sparkling. Then her face... for a heartbeat it looked like she was in agony.

"Then the light brown tom... he looked furious. He told Chaos that by doing what she just did, her innocence had vanished. He told her, 'Now, you shall never grow up.' Then... I woke up," Leopard finished, in a very anti-climax way.

"I think I know what happened," Duskfire spoke up. Every cat turned their gaze to her, and she shuffled her paws, embarrassed. "Well, I think that those were some StarClan cats - they're our ancestors. Maybe they stayed behind when the Clans left where we used to live... I don't know. But, anyway, in our Clans, leaders have nine lives. They share tongues with our ancestors to receive them when they first become leaders. I think that a life that was supposed to be given to a leader got left behind, and Chaos... stole it."

_So she only had two lives... _Smokepaw realized. _And Serenity already destroyed one, which means..._

In that heartbeat, there was a pattering of tiny paws behind them. Every cat glanced behind them, to see Chaos fleeing.

"Where's she going?" Smokepaw asked. Before any cat could answer, there was a loud _splash_... and then silence.

"She... she leaped into the Moonpool," mewed Duskfire, stunned. "But... why?"

"I think I know," mewed Serenity. "I think it leads to the place darker than the Place of No Stars. Now that we know that Chaos can be killed, she realizes that we won't hesitate to do so. She's afraid of death. She'd rather face _that_... half-life."

"Leave her there." Lion flicked his tail contemptuously. "Staying in that place forever is a fate worse than death."

Tiger and Leopard mewed their agreement, but Smokepaw and Duskfire exchanged worried glances.

_What about Eaglestripe and Dustpaw?_


	15. Two Minutes You Have

**DISCLAIMER: I _so _own Warriors. =coughcoughNOTcoughcough=**

Thirteen

"We _have _to save Eaglestripe!" Duskfire burst out.

"And Dustpaw," added Smokepaw.

Serenity and Lion exchanged a look.

"You can't," Tiger shook his head. "It's too dangerous."

"You don't understand!" Duskfire unsheathed her claws and sank them into the ground. "This is Eaglestripe we're talking about!"

"And Dustpaw!" Smokepaw added. She gazed at the four older cats, willing them to understand.

They said nothing, their blue, green, amber, and yellow eyes impossible to read. Finally, Smokepaw could bear it no longer.

"Fine!" she snapped, her dark blue eyes flashing. "Fine! If you won't help us, we'll go alone!"

"Right!" hissed Duskfire.

They turned to leave, but Serenity's voice stopped them.

"We can't let you do that."

Smokepaw turned her head.

"I'll come with you," the elderly she cat declared.

"I guess you'll need us too." Leopard blinked. "Come on, Lion, Tiger."

"Fine," Tiger huffed out a sigh. "I suppose we can't stop you."

Duskfire's whiskers twitched with happiness. "Great!"

"Besides," Smokepaw mewed optimistically, "how dangerous could it be?"

***

"Oh, great StarClan..." muttered Smokepaw, gazing into the depths of the Moonpool.

"This seems so _wrong_," Duskfire agreed.

"I thought you two were the cats who wanted to go?" questioned Tiger, his amber eyes narrowing.

"Oh, we do!" Duskfire assured him. "It's just..."

"This is the _Moonpool_," Smokepaw finished for her. "Where our ancestors have shared-"

Her sentence was cut short as she felt an almighty shove from behind and plunged headfirst into the Moonpool. She was aware of a loud splash before darkness pressed around her. It seemed she was freefalling for a few heartbeats before she... stopped.

It was still pitch black. But she seemed to be suspended... but... what was that screaming...?

No... block out your mind, think of good things, good things, good things...

"Smokepaw?"

"Duskfire!" gasped Smokepaw. _Think of Duskfire, think of Duskfire, think of Serenity, and Lion, and Tiger, and Leopard, and... and..._

"Can you feel it too?" Duskfire whispered.

"Believe me, we can all hear it," a voice from behind the two mewed. Smokepaw turned to see Serenity, Lion, Tiger, and Leopard.

"Were you the ones who pushed me?" she asked indignantly, remembering what had happened at the Moonpool.

"And me!" Duskfire put in.

"Well, you were taking to long!" Lion protested, but there was amusement in his yellow gaze.

"So, what now?" asked Duskfire.

"We need to find Chaos, Eaglestripe, and Dustpaw." Serenity answered promptly.

"That's not going to be easy," Tiger warned. "This place is huge. You can never get out."

"And we need to keep speaking to each other," Leopard advised. "It seems that talking is an antidote to the replaying of horrific things that happened in our lives."

Every cat nodded.

"So where do we start?" enquired Smokepaw.

"Right here," a menacing mew snarled.

"Oh," replied Smokepaw, pleased. "That was easy."

"Chaos!" hissed Serenity.

"So, came to find me you did?" asked the small white she-cat, her eyes narrowed.

"Not to find _you_," Duskfire corrected. "To find Eaglestripe."

"And Dustpaw," Smokepaw put in.

"Foolish you are," Chaos mewed. "Know I something that you do not. Two dead cats enter this place - two dead cats _stay_ in this place. Living cats come and go as please, but if dead cat enters, must be cat in here from then on."

The other six cats stared at Chaos, dismayed. That meant that there was nothing they could do!

"She's lying," stated Lion bluntly.

"No, no." Her eyes glittered with malevolence. "The truth I am quite telling. Look - show you I will."

She turned her back to them and trotted off.

"I'm not giving up," Smokepaw declared. "No way am I leaving without Dustpaw."

"Right," Duskfire agreed. "I got Eaglestripe into this mess - I'll get him out."

"Admirable sentiments," Serenity murmured wearily. "But if the choice comes, I will save the living cats..."

At that point they could say no more, because Chaos was returning, two vague, blurry, shapes behind her.

"...I swear to StarClan, Chaos, if this is a trick-"

"Eaglestripe!" yelped Duskfire in surprise. Without another word, she dashed forward to rub her fur against a brown tabby tom.

Smokepaw's eyes moved from Duskfire and Eaglestripe to Chaos, and then to the cat to the right of her. Her eyes locked with a pair of pale blue ones, which were throbbing with love, before she found herself being swathed with licks, as a light grey tabby tail twined with hers.

"Dustpaw..." Smokepaw purred.

"Oh, Smokepaw, Smokepaw, Smokepaw..." Dustpaw murmured, purring so hard Smokepaw was sure his throat must be hurting. "I love you."

"I love you too, Dustpaw," Smokepaw whispered. "And I always will."

"There," hissed a voice. Smokepaw and Dustpaw looked up. Chaos was standing next to what looked like a rip in the blackness. Smokepaw could see the Moonpool Cavern through it. "This take you back it will. But six cats only."

Her eyes flashed as she took a step back.

"Two minutes you have. Before closes, this hole does, and forever all of you stay here."

And with those parting words, Chaos leaped daintily through the hole.

"I'll stay," Dustpaw volunteered at once.

"Don't be mousebrained, I'm not leaving you here," Smokepaw growled. "I'll stay."

"No, I will," argued Serenity. "I don't have much longer of my life anyway-"

"No, you're the wisest of all of us!" Duskfire replied forcefully. "If any cat should stay, it should be me!"

"I won't lose you again!" mewed Eaglestripe in a shocked voice. "I've been here for a long time already. I'm already well-adjusted-"

"Which is exactly why you should leave!" Lion snarled. "Tiger and I will stay."

"No, neither you, Tiger, or Leopard should have got mixed up in this at all," answered Serenity immediately. "You three should leave."

With that, she pushed her three cousins towards the hole with surprising force for a cat her age.

"Alright," Lion sighed. "May your ancestors be with you."

The three of them disappeared through the hole, leaving Serenity, Duskfire, Eaglestripe, Dustpaw, and Smokepaw in the blackness.

"Listen, Smokepaw, you have your whole life ahead of you," mewed Serenity urgently. "You should leave."

"I agree," Eaglestripe nodded. "You too, Duskfire."

"But I'm not leaving you," Duskfire argued.

"Look!" Serenity mewed in alarm. "The hole's getting smaller!"

"We have to decide, _now_!" Eaglestripe mewed urgently.

"I'm staying," mewed Serenity. "And no cat can convince me otherwise."

"Smokepaw, Dustpaw, you two get out!" growled Duskfire, pushing them towards the hole. "Eaglestripe, go with them!"

"But-"

"Do it _now_!"

Smokepaw, Dustpaw, and Eaglestripe were bundled towards the rapidly shrinking hole.

"I love you, Duskfire!" Eaglestripe whispered in a strangled voice.

"I love you, Eaglestripe," Duskfire choked out, grief in her gaze.

Eaglestripe then turned away and propelled Smokepaw and Dustpaw through the hole, before jumping through himself.

"I will always love you, Eaglestripe!"


	16. Let's Go To Hunt With StarClan

**DISCLAIMER: If I owned Warriors, Squirrelflight would be Squirreltail, Spiderleg would be Spiderfur, Berrynose would be Berrytail, Honeyfern would be Honeypelt, Birchfall would be Birchwhisker, and Millie and Daisy would have taken warrior names.**

Fourteen

Dustpaw tumbled out of the hole, and crashed into the side of the cave.

"Oof!"

He scrambled to his paws, and immediately sought out Smokepaw.

"Smokepaw! Are you alright?" he mewed, concerned.

Smokepaw purred and pressed herself against Dustpaw's side. "As long as I'm with you, I'm _better_ than alright."

Dustpaw was just about to purr a reply when a high-pitched squeal cut him off. The two cats turned their heads in surprise to see Chaos being pinned down by Lion, with Tiger and Leopard flanking him.

"No!" the small white she-cat shrieked, terror in her eyes. "Please!"

Lion growled. "We should do it, you know."

"Have mercy!" Chaos wailed. "Anything I will do!"

Lion pressed his paw harder on his cousin's throat.

"Bring back Serenity and Duskfire," hissed Leopard.

Chaos shook her head, her eyes on Lion's white paw. "Impossible," she rasped, the paw on her throat intefering with her speech. "Come back they cannot. The truth I was telling!"

With these words, Lion removed the paw from the scarlet-eyed she-cat's neck and, before she could escape, grasped her by the scruff. Dustpaw and Smokepaw drew back against the side of the cave as he padded forwards and dangled Chaos over the Moonpool.

"Then you can at least join them," Tiger snarled. He flashed out a paw and sliced down the tiny she-cat's belly.

Lion let go of her scruff. The small white she-cat plunged into the water with a yowl of pain and fear so terrible Dustpaw wanted to cover his ears.

Dustpaw flinched and shut his eyes as drops of blood spattered onto his pelt, but... they weren't there. They had gone right through him. And that was when Dustpaw remembered... that he was dead.

A ringing silence followed. Smokepaw was the first to speak.

"Is she... gone?"

"Yes," replied Lion. "She is gone."

"And that gash I gave her with ascertain her death down there," Tiger hissed, flexing his claws.

Dustpaw shivered.

"So... Duskfire and Serenity can't come back?" Eaglestripe spoke for the first time. His words were cracked, and raw grief was evident in his eyes. His shoulders were slumped, and his tail was drooping.

Leopard shook her head. "I'm sorry, Eaglestripe."

"I... I'll never see her again." Eaglestripe seemed to be speaking to himself rather than to any other cat. "Not even in StarClan..."

Dustpaw glanced at Smokepaw. He was hyper-aware of how close he had been to sharing the same sort of anguish Eaglestripe was going through now.

"And Serenity, too..." Smokepaw blinked sadly. "I'll never forget her... Without her, no cat would have known how to defeat Chaos..."

Lion, Tiger, and Leopard bowed their heads.

"They were both noble cats," Tiger murmured.

Dustpaw looked at his starry paws. _If I had never been so selfish... Serenity and Duskfire might still be here..._

"And what about you two?" asked Smokepaw, flicking her tail towards Dustpaw and Eaglestripe. "Are you alive now?"

Dustpaw shook his head. "This is still my spirit," he mewed. "My body still rests outside the ThunderClan camp."

Smokepaw gazed at her dark grey paws. "So I won't see you again?"

"Don't be mousebrained." Dustpaw butted his head against Smokepaw's flank affectionately. "I'll watch over you from the stars until you come to join me."

Smokepaw looked up. "Really?"

"Of course, mousebrain." Dustpaw twined his tail with Smokepaw's one last time. "And then we'll be together forever."

"I know we will," Smokepaw whispered.

Dustpaw nodded, and then turned away to look at Eaglestripe. "Come on," he mewed. "Let's go to hunt with StarClan."

Eaglestripe raised sorrowful eyes to Dustpaw's and nodded.

The two starry cats padded out of the cave. An early morning breeze stirred Dustpaw's fur, though it could not penetrate it.

He turned back to where the four living cats were still standing.

"Goodbye, Smokepaw," he murmured.

And then he raised his head and set off into the slowly rising sun, Eaglestripe at his side.


End file.
